Venessa Arizaga Charms the Fashion Crowd

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Venessa Arizaga's jewelry first popped up on Net-a-porter last season, though if you blinked, you probably missed it. The colorful charm bracelets and sparkling necklaces sold out faster than she—and we—anticipated. When we found out Arizaga was located in our backyard we hopped on the train to Williamsburg to visit her studio (which also acts as a photo studio for her husband, and makeshift skate park) and get her story.

ELLE: So how'd you get here?VA: My first job was with a small company called Tuleh, my second job out of school was with Carolina Herrera where I was doing bridal and couture, and my last job was with Zac Posen as their design director. But, I was always doing this. When I wanted to relax and not do fashion—I figured out what I love to do by doing it for fun!

ELLE: Where did you start selling your jewelry?VA: My first collection was with small boutiques on the Lower East Side and Edit on the Upper West Side and my big store was Opening Ceremony, who does my sales right now. They're super amazing and supportive. It's such a cool store. They love all the young designers, they really kind of push me and give me great advice. And now I have almost 45 stores.

ELLE: Do you make everything here?
VA: : I have a production person who helps me outside. She's amazing; I've been working with her since the very beginning, so years and years, and now I'm slowly freelancing stuff out but doing all my production in New York and New Jersey. Eventually we'll get huge where I'll have to take it to China...I tried India but I needed to be hands on and be there.

ELLE: Tell me about the fall collection?VA: She's kind of fun and loves colors, lots of crochet, needlepoint. I love the combination of using chains and combining everything together—just rows and rows of chains and rhinestones and charms on top. It's kind of endless, like the kitchen sink! It did really well with sales.

ELLE: Is there a most popular piece?VA: Tthe first piece I've ever made is still selling like crazy. I still get like ten orders a week online. I think people really gravitate to the charm-ier pieces so we'll see how the crochet does. This is the first season I'm shipping it, but I'm obsessed with it. I think it's really beautiful and I haven't seen anyone really do it and I'm trying to push myself this season to kind of do something different. It's a learning curve.